Tough latin fusion from Uruguay via Brazil.This one ranges from the candombe rhythms of "Lonjas Del Cuareim" to the samba fusion bangers "Estrela Distante","O Sambinha" & "La Papa" to a post prog rock work out on "Feria de Tristan Narvaja".Here's a potted bio of Fattoruso from bigworldmusic.com

Hugo Fattoruso, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, began his musical career as a prodigious and somewhat reluctant piano student at the age of four. By the time he was nine his father Antonio formed El Trio Fattoruso by drafting Hugo's younger brother Jorge on drums, with Hugo on accordion and Antonio on "inverted bucket bass" (using a broom as the neck, and a cord as the instrument's single string). This trio performed in street festivals, covering the variety of styles used in Uruguay's carnivals (boleros, murgas, tangos, etc.), giving Hugo an education in the rich harmonic stuff of disparate musical styles.

At the age of 16 Hugo moved to the upright bass and began his tenure as the under-aged member of The Hot Blowers, a swing band that toured throughout Latin America in the late 1950s. This period could be seen as a second important milestone in Hugo's harmonic education, hammering home the concepts of improvisation and musical interplay.

By the early 1960s, rock'n'roll began to shake the world's foundation, and Hugo set out to express himself in that medium by forming Los Shakers, where he and his brother shared song writing, singing and guitar responsibilities. Los Shakers, Hugo Fattoruso (guitar, voice), Osvaldo Fattoruso (guitar, voice), Roberto "Pelin" Capobianco (bass, voice), Carlos "Caio" Vila (drums, voice), were a huge success throughout Latin America, as they were able to mold the complexities of bossa's harmonies, Uruguay's urban song style, candombe rhythms and the backbeat of rock into a new and contagious form.

By the late 1960s the influence of jazz, and of the Afro-Uruguayan rhythm of candombe, took Hugo to New York City, where he formed the group Opa. In Opa Hugo played keyboards and sang, while his brother played drums, and childhood friend Ringo Thielmann played bass. Opa's mixture of jazz, rock, Brazilian harmonies and rhythms, and Uruguay's African-flavored music (candombe) gave this band a distinctive voice, and garnered them recognition among musicians in the then growing "Latin jazz" scene. Opa released two albums on their own, 'Goldenwings' and 'Magic Time'. Opa's music served to influence the next generation of Uruguayan musicians, continuing the Fattoruso's impact on Uruguayan musical culture.

From that point on Hugo travelled the U.S. and worked with a variety of artists, ranging from Hermeto Pascoal to Ron Carter to The Dixie Dregs. After working in the U.S. with Milton Nascimento, Hugo spent several years living in Rio de Janeiro, where he worked with several prominent Brazilian artists including Djavan, Geraldo Azevedo, Chico Buarque de Holanda, Nana Vasconcelos and Toninho Horta. He has recorded extensively with Milton Nascimento, on the records "Milton", "Journey To Dawn", "Planeta Blue Na Estrada Do Sol", "Angelus", and "Nascimento", winner of the 1997 World Music Grammy Award. In addition to his piano and accordion playing, the compositions on the release "Nascimento" were co-arranged by Milton and Hugo.

Fab stuff! The rip has serious artifacts, though. Listen to the beginning and end of tracks... Sounds like twittering. Even if these unwanted sounds appear to be masked by the music most of the time, they impair the sound quality considerably.

I have noticed that vinyl rips tend to have this problem sometimes. If I may suggest a remedy: most often, such artifacts can be avoided by ripping at a lower level, for example, 85 or 90% instead of 95 or 98%.

Artifacts of this kind usually turn up when a vinyl has dust and minute scratches. While for analogue reproduction and perception they are not a problem, they may easily surpass the dynamic limit of the digital domain because these sounds are extremely short (= sharp attack) and have high frequencies, thus, they contain considerable energy. If you now rip such a record close to 100%, with every other dust particle you will go over the 100%, if only for a short moment. This results in the twittering you hear because digital encoding does not tolerate signal saturation.

The problem may also rest with d/a conversion of those sounds, even if they have been correctly encoded; however, if you turn down the ripping level while digitalising, they most probably go away.

likedeeler-the "twittering" is nothing more than static feedback from a loose earth connection.However your analysis made an interesting read and I was fascinated to read about the dust particles.In this case the lp had been washed in a bath of anti static solution which loosens and washes off any dust so I am a little dissapointed to say that I could not even tie this up with your comment.Any remark containing such a wealth of detail is of service and my thanks for leaving it.btw did you enjoy the music?

For fucks sake bacoso... tighten up the loose connection you lazy cunt!

Btw: when you have id be really grateful if you can re rip it and do it as a flac (mp3s are soooo early 21st century- come on get with the program). And while youre at it hi rez scans of all the covers and linears because I know you have no life...

Oh one more thing... While basquing in my selfishness forgot to mention... I now know I don't have tinitus thanks to the informed responses -- thank fuck for that Dr. Bacoso thought I was a gonner phew!

Hey Bacoso, it's an excellent record, love it. Great drum piece, the last track! My initial "fab stuff!" got drowned in the rest of my rant I suppose... You have initiated me to fantastic music, old jazz hater that I was. Very happy when I saw you were back, btw.

It's not digital artifacts but static feedback? I think you're right, the sounds are not artifactish enough. Interesting.Playing the rip another time right now, the twittering makes themusic quite unlistenable at times. Once you hear it, it's impossible to ignore even in the louder parts. A rerip would be fantastic, indeed.

Personally, I don't mind some dust and scratches when they're not too bad. I prefer to hear them than to have them digitally removed since the removal may affect sound quality worse than a bit of surface noise. But, wow! You even washin yer records!!! Respect.

A Doctor writes....Dear gregI regret to inform you that you do have tinitus - you obviously misheard me when I diagnosed your condition as Tourette's.As ever offering my very best services you DEAF CUNT!!!!!!RegardsDoctor Bacoso